


Super Friends

by localspacelesbian



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Aged up characters, Enemies to Friends, F/F, M/M, Mild Language, T. J. Kippen & Amber Are Siblings, superhero au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-12
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-08-19 15:37:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 15,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20212168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/localspacelesbian/pseuds/localspacelesbian
Summary: Andi and Buffy, a superhero, crime-fighting power couple, must work together with their archnemeses, Amber and TJ Kippen, when their mutual friend Cyrus goes missing.





	1. Missing

**Author's Note:**

> loosely inspired by this post

Andi and Buffy had just gotten home from a night of crime-fighting. They had just flown in through the window of their apartment when they heard a noise coming from the apartment across the hall from theirs: their friend Cyrus’s apartment. They gave each other a look and then silently walked across their living room, opened the door, and looked across the hall. The door was slightly ajar. They looked at each other again, communicating silently, and Buffy walked in first.

The first thing she noticed was that the room was a mess. The coffee table was knocked over, there were papers all over the floor, and the couch had been torn. The second thing she noticed was two people who appeared to be searching the room. One of them was a man dressed in red with a long black coat and a black mask that covered his eyes. The other was a woman with long blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail, dressed in light blue, with a similar long white coat and a white mask. They both had their backs to the door; she was opening the door to the bedroom while he was investing some of the papers that were on the ground.

Buffy scoffed and crossed her arms. “Of course it’s you two.” Their archnemeses, Spitfire and Frostbyte looked up and turned to face the two superheroes. The twins walked across the room in their direction, and all four of them immediately tensed up and got into fighting positions.

“Where’s Cyrus?” Andi didn’t get angry very often, so when she did, it was scary.

The twins looked at each other and then back at the two heroes, relaxing just slightly. Spitfire crossed his arms. “What do you think we’re trying to find out?” He sounded almost as angry as Andi.

“You mean, you didn’t do this?” Buffy gestured to the mess around them.

“Of course not. Cyrus is our friend.” Spitfire said this like it was the most obvious thing in the world, like it made any sense at all.

“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would he be friends with two supervillains?”

“Well, he doesn’t exactly know that part.” He rolled his eyes.

Buffy was about to respond, but Frostbyte spoke first. “Can you two stop arguing? We’re clearly on the same side here, and your egos aren’t going to help us find Cyrus.” Frostbyte gave Buffy and Spitfire a cold look.

“Oh no. We are not going to work together. You two are going to leave before I kick your asses, and the two of us are going to find  _ our _ friend.”

Andi put her hand on Buffy’s arm and gave her a look. They had a silent conversation for a few seconds before Buffy finally gave in. “Fine.” She looked over at the two villains. “But I still don’t trust you.”

“And I don’t trust you. But I’ll do anything to save Cyrus.” And seeing the look on his face, even without being able to see his eyes, Buffy almost believed that he was genuinely worried about her friend.

Buffy could have sworn she heard Frostbyte whisper, “Gaaaaay” in her brother’s ear as she walked by him and back towards Cyrus’s bedroom, but she decided she must have been imaging things because she did not want her mind to go down the rabbit hole of what that implied. She didn’t miss the him scoffing as he hit her lightly on the arm, though. She decided to ignore it as the four of them got to work searching the apartment for clues.

“Hey guys, I think I found something.” Buffy was by her girlfriend’s side in a nanosecond. They were quickly joined by the twins. “This isn’t any of yours’, is it?” She held up a torn piece of cloth that certainly didn’t match any of their outfits. They all shook their heads no. “Didn’t think so. And I don’t think it’s Cyrus’s.”

Spitfire agreed. “Yeah, I’ve never seen him wear anything that looks like that.” Buffy couldn’t help but wonder just how much time he had spent with Cyrus that he seemed so sure, but she pushed that thought away as she agreed. The fabric didn’t look like anything Cyrus owned, and she and Andi would know since they had helped him pick out most of his clothes.

“So, you think it’s from whoever took him?” Frostbyte asked the obvious question.

Andi nodded.

“Do you think that’ll help us find them?” Buffy asked the important question.

Andi shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.” She walked over to Cyrus’s overturned coffee table, put it back in the right position, and set the piece of fabric on it. “Did anyone else find anything?”

They all shook their heads, but Spitfire spoke again. “Well, they didn’t break down the door, and there’s no indication that they picked the lock, so if they did, they did a really good job, so either Cyrus let them in or…”

“They came in through the window.” Andi finished the sentence and walked quickly toward the window to confirm that it did appear to have been forced open.

“But we’re 9 stories up.” Frostbyte oh-so-helpfully pointed out.

Andi simply responded by floating a couple inches above the floor and giving her a look that said ‘ _ Some people can fly, Brenda _ .’ Frostbyte seemed to get the message. Buffy had to force herself not to laugh.


	2. A Truce

The next few days passed in a blur of research, bad coffee, takeout, and very little sleep. Andi took on the role of the ‘mom friend’ and considered herself lucky if she could get the others to eat at least one real meal a day and go to bed before the sun came up. They spent most of their time in Cyrus’s apartment. They cleaned up the mess the kidnappers had made (after taking pictures and collecting as much evidence as possible, of course), but they quickly replaced it with their own mess of coffee cups, evidence, papers, and takeout containers.

After two days of working on the case, Buffy finally brought up the elephant in the room. They were taking a break (by Andi’s insistence), eating some Chinese takeout, and talking. “So, you two are TJ and Amber, right?” She said it the same way one might discuss what they were having for dinner that night.

They both froze with chopsticks halfway to their mouths. Amber put hers back into the container she was holding. “How did you know that?”

“Cyrus talks about you guys. He doesn’t exactly have a lot of guy friends, and only one with a twin sister.” Buffy shrugged. “It wasn’t hard to figure out.” She kept eating her food, as though she hadn’t just revealed to her archnemeses that she knew their secret identities.

“Well, you two are Buffy and Andi, right?” Amber raised her eyebrow, as if to say ‘Two can play at this game.’ “He talks about you, too.”

Buffy just shrugged, feigning nonchalance. She wasn’t exactly happy that they knew their names, but she supposed it was fair. Besides, now they didn’t have to worry about keeping their secret, on top of everything else they were worrying about right now. “Well, I should hope he talks about us; we’re only his best friends.”

TJ jumped in then. “You two don’t have to worry about us telling anyone or using your identities against you or anything. I know we have our differences,” Buffy couldn’t help but snort at that. “But I meant what I said earlier, I would do anything for Cyrus. And I know he’d be devastated if anything were to happen to you two.”

Buffy was skeptical, but she was listening. “Are you trying to call a truce?”

TJ smiled. “Something like that.” He held out his hand.

She glanced over at Andi, who was nodding and smiling. “Fine. At least until the next time you do something illegal.” She shook his hand.

“I guess I can live with that.”

Over the next couple days, the four of them started to become slightly more comfortable with each other. They weren’t suddenly best friends or anything, but there were little things: their bantering became less antagonistic and more playful; TJ and Amber’s sibling bickering got louder, like they weren’t holding back in front of the other two anymore; Andi and Buffy started showing each other affection in front of the other two more; Buffy caught Andi drawing new designs of the twins’ supersuits on more than one occasion; the four even found themselves joking around and telling stories (mostly about Cyrus) on occasion during their Andi-mandated lunch breaks.

Of course, they didn’t joke around so much that they let themselves forget what it was that brought them together. They spent the majority of their time focused on their mission. After four and a half days of research, they were pretty sure they had found where Cyrus was being kept, and they had a plan to get him out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise the next chapter will be longer


	3. Rescues and Revelations

Cyrus laid on the bed in the tiny room—no, cell—where he had spent the past few days. There were no windows, so it was difficult to tell for sure how long it had been. He had long given up trying to escape, not that he had really tried that hard; between the aforementioned lack of windows, the guards outside the door, and his injured ankle, he couldn’t exactly get very far. He tried his best to ignore the throbbing pain. He couldn’t remember exactly what had happened to his ankle; the whole kidnapping had been an adrenaline-filled blur. But it hurt. A lot. And he was scared to look at it too closely. He tried to focus on the bright side: at least he had a bed, and whoever was keeping him here had just enough decency to provide him with food periodically, which was the closest thing he had to a method of keeping track of time. He was pretty sure it was currently night, so he was trying to sleep, more because there was nothing else to do than because he was actually tired.

When he had first arrived, he had been interrogated. Apparently, his attackers seemed to think that he knew the secret identities of four of the most famous superheroes and supervillains in Shadyside: The Slayer, Andiman, Spitfire, and Frostbyte. Although he did have his suspicions, he didn’t tell them anything, so they just threw him in this cell without another word. After they didn’t make another attempt at interrogating him, he came to the conclusion that he was probably being used as bait, and if his suspicions about any of their identities were correct, it would probably work. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. Of course he wanted to be rescued, but he didn’t want his friends to put themselves in danger for him, and he didn’t like the idea of someone using him just to get to them.

He tried not to think about it too much, which was difficult, seeing as thinking was all there was to do in here. Cyrus had read all about the effects solitary confinement can have on people, and he knew that the lack of human interaction and stimulation was getting to him. He had never been so bored or lonely in his life, and for once, he wasn’t exaggerating. He tried to keep his mind busy by telling himself stories in his head. Fortunately, he was pretty good at this by now, having been using the worlds he created in his head (and occasionally, actually wrote down on paper) as a form of escapism for as long as he could remember. And it seemed to be working. At least he hadn’t started hallucinating yet.

Suddenly, he heard a noise outside and sat up. He saw the door open, and a purple blur came into the room. When it stopped moving, he saw that it was a woman he had encountered several times in his past few years in his career as a reporter but had never before seen up this close. Ok, so maybe he had started hallucinating.

“Cyrus.” The way she said his name and the look on her face of genuine worry and relief confirmed his suspicions about her identity.

“Buffy!” He tried to stand, but quickly fell back onto the bed. Or he would have fallen if she hadn’t caught him. He refused to believe she was really here until he felt her arms wrap around him in a hug. He would recognize the familiar feeling and scent of his best friend anywhere. “It is you, isn’t it?”

“We can talk about that later. We need to get you out of here.” She picked him up bridal style, and he felt a gust of wind as they moved much faster than humans should be able to move, and suddenly they were outside. There were three other people out there waiting, two of whom immediately rushed toward him as Buffy carefully set him down.

He barely noticed the one in yellow (Andiman… Andi… wow, it was really that obvious, huh.) as she asked him if he was hurt. He was too busy focusing on the other person who was now standing in front of him.

“Underdog.” There was only one person who ever called him that, and damn Cyrus really hated being right sometimes.

Spitfire caught him as he stumbled forward. Cyrus stared at his face for a few seconds before slowly reaching up to pull off his mask. He moved slowly so he could stop him if he wanted to, but he just stood there and let him. Even though he already knew who it was, he still gasped when it was confirmed. “TJ.”

TJ looked down. “Are you mad?”

And wasn’t that a really good question? There were so many emotions going through Cyrus’s mind that he couldn’t even begin to name them all. Anger was probably one of them, but the one he focused on for now was relief. TJ, his best friend, his not-so-scary basketball guy, the man he had been crushing on for the past several months now, was here. He had come to save him. (And ok, Buffy had done most of the actual saving, and Andi and the other woman, Frostbyte—no, Amber?—were there too, but still, Cyrus was a romantic at heart, so let him have this.)

He answered TJ’s question by putting his hands on his face and pulling him in for a kiss. Because damn, he had been wanting to do that for a long time now, and what was more romantic than kissing right after escaping a near-death experience? TJ seemed surprised at first, but it didn’t take long for him to put his arms around Cyrus and kiss him back. His whole body felt kind of tingly; going from multiple days of no human contact to  _ this _ was… intense. (There was a voice in the back of his mind that sounded suspiciously like his stepmom that told him he was probably experiencing mild touch starvation.) They finally pulled apart when he heard Buffy making gagging sounds behind him. They both turned to look at her.

Andi smacked her on the arm. “Come on, let them be happy.”

“No, I’m gonna have to take the Slayer’s side on this one for once. That was pretty gay.” He saw TJ roll his eyes at his sister’s comment. “Besides, we should probably get going.”

Cyrus agreed with that part at least. He took a step back from TJ and winced. Oh right. His ankle. He saw a look of panic cross everyone’s faces.

“Cyrus! I tried asking you if you were hurt!”

“Sorry, I was a little distracted.”

Andi just rolled her eyes and knelt down to heal his ankle. She put her hands over the injured area, and there was a soft golden glow and a warm feeling Cyrus didn’t quite know how to describe. It felt really weird, but when it was over, the pain was gone and he could walk on it. He smiled at her gratefully. Then, quite suddenly, she picked him up, and two of them were flying away, which was terrifying, but also kind of cool? He is not ashamed to admit that he screamed. They ended up back at his own apartment. They flew in through his open living room window and saw that the other three were somehow already there waiting for them.

He looked around his apartment and saw, not the mess that his kidnappers had made, but a different kind of mess. One that could only have been made by four super-people on a mission. “Have you guys been staying in my apartment?”

Buffy answered, “Well, we couldn’t use either of our own places. Just because we have a common goal right now, doesn’t mean we trust each other.”

“Riiight… Ok.”

“We’re going to go back to the place we found you to take a look around. You three stay here.” And with that, Buffy and Andi had disappeared out the window again.

“I’m going to make some tea.” Cyrus nodded, but TJ had already disappeared into the kitchen.

Cyrus looked around at the mess his apartment had become and decided he should probably start cleaning it up. When Amber saw him reaching down to pick up an old coffee cup, she rushed over and took it from him. “You don’t have to do that. We made the mess; we’ll clean it up. Why don’t you just go sit down on the couch?”

He figured it was probably better not to argue with her, so he did what she said, even though he had spent the past few days doing nothing but sitting and quite frankly, he was tired of sitting. Fortunately, before he became too restless, TJ returned with three mugs.  _ That was fast. I didn’t even here the kettle? _ But of course TJ wouldn’t need a kettle to heat up tea. Right. That was going to take some getting used to. He handed one to Amber and the two of them joined Cyrus on the couch, sitting on either side of him.

TJ handed him one of the other two mugs, and Cyrus went to grab it, but pulled back in pain. It was much hotter than he had been expecting.

He shook his hand slightly as TJ set both of the mugs on the coffee table. “Shit. I’m sorry, Cy.”

“It’s fine. I just wasn’t expecting it to be so hot.”

Amber just rolled her eyes and picked Cyrus’s mug up. “He always does this.” He watched as she held the mug in her hand and her eyes glowed blue for a second as she stared down at it. When she handed it to him, both the mug and the tea were the perfect temperature.

“Thanks.”

As they all sipped their tea, there was an awkward silence that probably wasn’t quite as long as it felt before Amber finally broke it. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”

“It’s not your fault.” He responded automatically, even though he knew it kind of was.

“I think we both know that’s not true.” She put his hand on his knee. “And even if it is, I’m still sorry. And I’m sorry we kept this secret from you for so long. I think we thought we were protecting you, but I guess we saw how well that worked out.”

TJ snorted. “You don’t need to lie to him to make him feel better. You and I both know we were only protecting ourselves.” He looked at Cyrus. “We were scared you would hate us if you knew who we really are.”

“Well, I’m not exactly happy that two of my best friends spend their time committing crimes and fighting my other two best friends, but you did just save my life, so I can’t stay mad at you for too long.”

“So, you are mad.”

Cyrus put his mug on the coffee table and took TJ’s hands in his own. “I don’t know what I feel. I just. I can’t believe that you two, who are so nice to me all the time, could be criminals? And not just criminals, but actual supervillains? How does that even happen? How do you have these amazing powers, and use them to hurt people instead of to help people?”

“Gotta pay the bills some how.” Cyrus turned to Amber when she spoke and saw her shrug and take a sip of her tea. “Besides, we don’t actually hurt people. If we can help it, anyway.” Cyrus tried to think back to everything he had seen and heard about the two criminals, and yeah, the did seem to mostly just steal from rich assholes and hadn’t actually hurt that many people. At least, he was almost certain they had never killed anyone. But was that really where the bar was?

Before he could ask any more questions, Buffy and Andi came flying in through the window. Amber and TJ immediately stood up, so Cyrus followed suit and the three of them walked toward the other two. Amber asked, “Did you guys find anything?”

Buffy answered. “Yeah, but we can talk about it tomorrow. It’s getting late. Who’s going to stay here with Cyrus?”

“Guys, I don’t need someone to stay here with me. I’ll be fine.” Buffy just gave him a look, and he got the message loud and clear: he had already been kidnapped once, and they weren’t going to let it happen again. He sighed. “Fine. But you guys have to clean my apartment before you leave.” And with that, he walked into his bathroom to get ready for bed.

When he exited the bathroom, after a long, well-deserved shower, he found that his apartment was even cleaner than it had been before he had been kidnapped, and the only one of his friends left was TJ, who was sitting on the couch, back in his normal clothes, and scrolling through his phone. He looked up when he heard Cyrus enter. Cyrus smiled at him. “So you got stuck with babysitting duty, huh?”

“I, uh, volunteered actually. I hope that’s ok?”

Cyrus nodded. “Yeah, I was kinda hoping it’d be you.”

“Really?” TJ smiled.

“Yeah, I think we probably need to talk about everything, but is it ok if we wait until morning? I’m really tired.”

“Yeah, I’m tired too. Can you at least tell me if this going to be a good talk or a bad talk first?”

Cyrus shrugged. “I wish I could, but, honestly, I don’t know. I’m still processing everything. Either way, we should get some sleep. Come on.” At TJ’s confused face, he clarified, “I’m not letting you sleep on that couch. I know from experience how uncomfortable it is.” And he walked into his bedroom, smiling when he heard TJ get up and follow him. Honestly, he mostly just didn’t want to sleep alone after everything that had happened the past few days.

When Cyrus woke up, he was alone. He started to panic for a second, but then he smelled… bacon? He relaxed, smiling as he got out of bed. He walked into the kitchen where TJ was making breakfast.  _ I could get used to this. _ Cyrus leaned against the doorway, crossing his arms and watching TJ cook pancakes and bacon.

He smirked playfully. “Hey, you know I’m Jewish, right?” And man was it worth it to see the brief second of panic on TJ’s face when he looked up.

“Um. I know. I’m sorry. I uhh. I thought you didn’t-”

“TJ, I’m just messing with you. You saw me eat a bacon cheeseburger like last week.” At least, Cyrus was pretty sure it had been last week. He honestly had no idea what day it even was.

“Oh. Right.” TJ smiled in relief, which quickly turned into a smirk as his voice took on a more teasing tone. “You know, you shouldn’t eat beef; it’s bad for the environment.”

_ I cannot believe there is an actual supervillain in my kitchen, making me breakfast and lecturing me about the environment. _ “Is pork any better?” Cyrus gestured toward the bacon TJ was making.

TJ shrugged. “Yeah a little bit. I think? I’m not really sure, but it was already here, and I wouldn’t want it to go to waste.”

“I don’t remember buying bacon.”

“I think Andi bought it.”

“Oh. Of course she did.”  _ So they  _ did _ already know each other’s secret identities. Well, that would certainly make things easier. _

TJ started serving up plates of chocolate chip pancakes and bacon and set them on the kitchen table while Cyrus walked over to the counter to pour them each a cup of coffee.

They sat down and started to eat their breakfast. Cyrus decided to break the silence. “So, we should probably have that talk now, before the others show up.”

“Oh.” TJ’s smile fell. “Right.”

“I promise it’s not going to be bad. It’s just. This has been a lot to process.” TJ nodded. “And I think we should talk about the kiss.”

TJ looked down. “Oh. What about it?”

“I’m sorry.”

TJ looked up again, tilting his head to the side. “You’re sorry for kissing me?”

“Kind of? I mean. It was like a heat of the moment thing, y’know? Not that it didn’t mean anything, cause I do like you, but I just don’t know if I want anything to happen right now. What with everything going on. Y’know?”

“You mean, you finding out that I’m Spitfire.”

“Not just that. Everything, y’know? This has been a stressful few days, and I need some time to process it all.”

TJ nodded but looked kind of sad. “I get it. Just for the record though, I like you too.”


	4. Frosternal Love

Not too long after they finished eating, the girls showed up back at the apartment. After telling them everything he could remember from the kidnapping, he tried to help them with tracking down the person responsible. He quickly found that he was out of his element. Sure, he was a reporter, but this was a whole different kind of research he wasn’t used to. Plus, he kind of didn’t want to keep being reminded of what had happened. But he couldn’t just sit around doing nothing, so, deciding he wanted to regain some sense of normalcy in his life, he decided to email his boss to try to give her some excuse for why he had been gone for so long (which she was surprisingly understanding about, especially after he promised her an exclusive interview with the Slayer and Andiman to make it up to her). Then he got to work on the article he had been in the process of writing before this whole mess had started. It was kind of nice to be distracted with doing something he was actually good at.

By the end of the day, his four super-powered friends had apparently found what they were looking for and agreed to meet back here in the morning to carry out their plan. Cyrus debated with himself for a while about whether or not knowing their plan would make him more or less anxious; he eventually decided he would rather not know. That night, Amber stayed the night with him.

He didn’t understand why she had volunteered until the other three left (after all hugging him goodbye), and she immediately turned to him, crossing her arms and giving him a look that made the idea that she was a supervillain a lot less far-fetched than it had seemed to him the day before. He felt the room go cold. “If you even think of hurting TJ, I can, and will, end you.”

Cyrus gulped and felt a shiver run down his spine. In that moment, she was almost scarier than the guy who had kidnapped him. No. Not almost. She was definitely scarier. He reminded himself that she was still his friend though and tried to lighten the mood. “He’s literally a supervillain, and you’re threatening  _ me _ ?” He laughed nervously.

She was not amused. She took a step closer to him. “He’s my baby brother. I would kill for him.” She said it in a tone that implied it wouldn’t be for the first time. “Do I make myself clear?” Some voice in the back of his mind wondered if Buffy and Andi were giving TJ a similar threat, or if they already had.

“Crystal.” He saw the hint of a genuine smile hiding behind her smirk. “Wait.  _ Baby _ brother? Aren’t you and TJ twins?”

Amber rolled her eyes. “I’m still technically twelve minutes older. So he’s my baby brother, whatever he says.”

“Riight. Ok.” He took a step closer to her and tried to eliminate any signs of fear from his face. “Look. I like TJ a lot. I’m not planning on hurting him. I don’t know what’s going to happen between us, but I know that he makes me happy and that I want to make him happy. It’ll take me some time to process all of this.” He gestured vaguely around the room. “But whatever happens, I care about him a lot, and I want him to be in my life.”

Amber softened. She uncrossed her arms and put a hand on his shoulder. “I know. I know you make him happy and that he cares a lot about you too. I just don’t want to seem him get hurt.” Cyrus was pretty sure he heard an unspoken ‘again’ in there, but decided that was a story for another day.

“I get it.” He hugged her then, and she seemed a little surprised at first, but quickly recovered and melted into the hug as he felt the coldness in the room dissipate. They stayed up talking for a while before going to bed. When they did, he didn’t even have to ask her to come sleep in his bed with him; it was like she instinctively knew that he didn’t want to be alone. He almost regretted this when he felt her cold feet on his legs, but he just pulled another blanket over them and hugged her tighter.

After an hour of struggling to fall asleep, in spite of his earlier decision, he made her tell him the plan for tomorrow in the hopes that it would ease his mind somewhat. It did not.


	5. A Nice Person on the Inside

Cyrus spent most of the day worrying alone in his apartment. He considered going into work, but he knew he’d be too distracted to get anything done, and his coworkers might try to ask him questions he wasn’t prepared to answer. Besides, he wanted to be here when they got back. Whenever that was. He tried to work, but he couldn’t focus. He tried to distract himself with tv, but he got restless. Eventually, he settled on trying to bake, which usually helped to calm him down. After several ruined batches, he did end up making one successful batch of oatmeal raisin cookies. And then he made two batches of muffins: one chocolate chocolate chip and one blueberry macadamia nut. (Ok, so maybe his mind  _ was _ still on TJ, but at least it was on his favorite muffins and not on imaging all the different ways everything could go wrong and he could die. Or maybe it still was. Just a little bit.)

He had just put a pan of brownies in the oven and set the timer when he heard his door opening. He poked his head out into his living room, and, after confirming that it was indeed his friends, ran and practically crashed in to them in his hurry to hug all of them at once. After his initial excitement subsided (slightly), he took a step back and finally got a good look at them. To put it simply, they were a mess.

“Is that blood?” was the first thing he asked.

“Don’t worry. It’s not all ours.” Somehow, Amber’s words did little to comfort him.

Before he could ask if that meant that some of it was, TJ said, “You know, I could get used to being on the same team as a healer.” That comforted Cyrus only slightly.

“Don’t.” Buffy said as she walked passed Cyrus to sit on his couch.

Andi rolled her eyes and went to join her girlfriend. “Something smells good.”

Cyrus was pretty sure he heard Amber mutter something about, “certainly not TJ, that’s for sure,” but he decided to ignore it.

“Well, you know, I bake when I’m nervous.”

He walked over and sat on the loveseat, where he was soon joined by TJ, while Amber sat on the recliner. “So, how did it go?”

“Better than expected. You won’t have to worry about that guy anymore, that’s for sure.” He was sure Buffy _ meant _ for that to sound reassuring.

“Do I want to know the details?”

“Probably not.”

Cyrus nodded. “Fair enough.”

They sat there in silence until the oven timer went off, and he went into the kitchen to take the brownies out of the oven. He set them on the stove and put his oven mitts next to them.

“Wow, you were not kidding. You really were worried about us, huh?”

Cyrus turned at the sound of TJ’s voice and saw him looking around the mess that was his kitchen. He didn’t realise TJ had followed him. Cyrus laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. “Yeahh, and these are just the ones that turned out well.” He gestured to the baked good spread out on the counters and table and then looked guiltily at the trash can full of his failures.

“I’m sorry.” TJ was looking down at his feet.

“For what?” Cyrus took a step towards him.

TJ gestured vaguely. “For making you worry so much.”

Cyrus stepped forward to hug TJ. “No. Thank you.” TJ slowly returned the hug and they stood like that for a while.

Eventually, they separated. TJ pointed at the blueberry macadamia nut muffins. “So… are those for me?” He tilted his head to the side.

Cyrus shook his head and smiled. “Yeah, but we should probably share with the others.”

TJ pouted, but helped Cyrus put some of the baked goods on plates and carry them out to the living room. The five of them sat in the living room talking for quite a while. Sitting there, with all four of his best friends, Cyrus felt at peace for the first time in a while, like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“You know, if you two ever decide to come over to the light side for good, I could make you some new super suits.”

TJ looked offended at Andi’s suggestion. He looked down at what he was wearing and then over at Amber. “What’s wrong with the ones we have now?”

Cyrus just put his hand on TJ’s arm and gave him a look that said, ‘oh honey, no.’

TJ made an offended noise and everyone else laughed. He threw a napkin at Cyrus.

When it was finally time for everyone to go home, this time they didn’t try to assign him a baby sitter, seeing as the immediate threat was over, but Cyrus asked TJ to stay with him anyway. He hugged the girls goodbye, and decided to leave the mess in his kitchen and living room for tomorrow-Cyrus. They were both pretty exhausted and figured they’d be able to fall asleep pretty easily. Unfortunately, things rarely work out that way.

After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, Cyrus was almost ready to give up trying. He laid on his back next to TJ. “Hey, TJ?”

“Yeah, Cy?”

“Am I keeping you up?”

“Nah, I can’t sleep anyway.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“Eh. It’s fine.”

There was a brief pause before Cyrus spoke again. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

He didn’t really know how to word his question exactly. “Why… uh why are you a villain? Not like, why did you become one, although I guess we can talk about that too if you want, but why are you still?”

“What do you mean?”

“You just seem like such a good person usually. It’s hard for me to believe that the same person who bought a stranger a muffin just because he seemed sad and who is so good with kids and who loves his sister so much could go out there every night and do the things I’ve seen Spitfire do.”

TJ sighed. “I. I honestly don’t really know anymore. If you had asked me a year ago, I’d probably say it was  _ because _ I love my sister so much. I mean, it’s been just the two of us for so long, doing whatever it takes to survive. But now? I don’t know. I guess I just don’t know what else to do.”

Cyrus turned over on his side, so he was facing TJ, who was still laying on his back, not looking at him. “You could just stop. There are a million other things you could be doing with your life, TJ.” TJ finally looked at him then, and Cyrus put a hand on his arm. “But I know most of those things are too boring for you.” TJ smirked at that. “You  _ could _ keep doing what you’ve spent the past week doing: working with Buffy and Andi, being a hero.”

TJ looked away again. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“Why not? You helped me. You could help other people, too.”

“Other people aren’t you Underdog. It’s not that simple. I can’t just suddenly switch from a lifetime of being a bad guy to being a superhero overnight. It doesn’t work like that.”

“TJ.” Cyrus put his hand on TJ’s cheek and made him look at him. “I’m not saying it would be easy, but you can be whatever you want to be. It’s never too late to change. Sometimes there’s a nice person on the inside trying to get out. I know you, TJ. I know you’re a good person. Why not let the rest of the world see how good you can be too?”

“Cyrus, you think too highly of me. I’m nice to you because I like you. That doesn’t make me a good person.”

“Actually, I think I’m a pretty good judge of character. I can see the good in you TJ, even if you can’t. You have the potential to be a hero; you just have to make the choice to, and keep making that choice every day for the rest of your life.”

“You sure know a lot about being a superhero.” Tj smiled at him.

Cyrus shrugged. “I spend a lot of time with them. And writing about them.”

“I. I’ll think about it, ok? I don’t know what Amber would say, though. There’s no way I could do it without her.” Cyrus decided not to mention that he had had a similar conversation with her the night before; he’d let them talk it out together and make their own decision. “We should probably try to get some sleep now. It’s getting late.”

Cyrus nodded in agreement. He curled up to TJ’s side, and TJ put his arm around him. He fell asleep almost instantly.


	6. An Interview

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter gets kind of angsty. i'm sorry

The next day, Cyrus finally went back to work. Of course, as soon as he got there, his boss reminded him that he had promised her an exclusive interview with the Slayer and Andiman. He just turned around and started walking away to head to their apartment when she called after him, “And don’t forget to ask them about Spitfire and Frostbyte.”

That stopped him in his tracks. He turned back around. “Wait what?”

She raised her eyebrow. “I know you’ve been gone this past week, but surely you haven’t been living under a rock? There have been multiple reports of people seeing the four of them together, and I want to know why.”

“Right. Got it.” He turned around again before his face could give away how he felt about that, mostly because he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He already knew they had been working together and why, so how was he supposed to ask them about it and then write an unbiased article without giving too much away? Maybe he hadn’t thought this whole thing through.  _ Oh well. No backing out now. _ He called them on his way to tell them he was coming over to interview them.

He knocked on their door, and Buffy answered. “Remind me again we why agreed to do this.”

Andi appeared behind her. “Because he’s our friend and we love him.”

Buffy seemed skeptical, but Cyrus could tell she wasn’t serious.

He held up the tupperware container he had brought over from his apartment. “Because I brought cookies?”

“Ahh yes. That’s why.” Buffy smiled and opened the door, taking the container from him.

The interview started out pretty well. It was definitely better than his previous interviews with them, before he knew their identities and they had to meet in dark, spooky locations and they had to wear their masks and disguise their voices.

But then, he got to the question he had been dreading. “So, what do you two think of Spitfire and Frostbyte?”

Buffy narrowed her eyes at him. “What do you mean? We’ve been enemies for years. Nothing has changed.”

“So, what do you have to say about reports of the four of you being seen working together this past week?”

“We had a common goal. We accomplished it. End of story.”

“You can’t give me any more details than that?” Come on, he understood the need for secrecy, but he had an article to write, damn it, surely they could give him more than that. “What was the goal? Why did you have to work together?”

Luckily, Andi cut in then. “We have a mutual friend who needed our help.”

“And how is it that two superheroes and two supervillains have a mutual friend?”

“You’d have to ask the friend. But to protect them, we’re not going to tell you who they are.”

“Fair enough.” Cyrus supposed it was a good thing that his friends wanted to protect him, so he decided to drop that topic and hoped that it would be good enough. “So, what was it like working together with two supervillains?” This was something he was actually curious about. None of them had really said much about it yet.

Buffy scoffed, but Andi interrupted her before she had a chance to speak. “Surprisingly, not that bad. They were focused on our goal, and once Spitfire and the Slayer got their egos in check,” Buffy seemed offended by that but didn’t say anything. “We were able to work together pretty well.”

“And you weren’t worried about them betraying you or anything?”

Buffy spoke then. “Of course we were. But we could tell how much they cared about our friend, and it’s amazing what one can accomplish with the right motivation.”

“And what better motivation is there than love?” Andi held Buffy’s hand then and they gave each other disgustingly romantic looks.

Cyrus was glad he was only recording their voices and not filming this, but on the other hand, if there had been a camera, he could’ve look into it like this was _The Off-._ _Wait hold on, did she just imply that TJ _loves_ me?_ He decided to push that thought away for now and deal with it later. Cyrus thought for a second about how to word the question he had been most scared to ask them. “Given that they helped you and your friend this past week, do you think it’s possible for Spitfire and Frostbyte to change? To become good?”

Buffy reached over and held his hand. He was scared to look up because he knew what their facial expressions would be: at worst, anger; at best, pity. He looked up anyway. Yep, she was giving him the ‘oh honey’ look. And so was Andi. He was already regretting the question, but he knew he needed to ask it.

Buffy was the one who finally spoke. “Oh honey, no. I know how much you care about them, but you can’t love away evil. After everything they’ve done, you know we can’t trust them. One good deed doesn’t erase years of bad deeds. They’re criminals. They should be in prison.”

Cyrus knew that was what Buffy believed, but it still hurt to hear her say it. It hurt worse that a part of him almost believe it too. He shook his head and pulled his hand away from hers. “How can you honestly believe that they’re evil after they helped you save my life? Evil people don’t do that. I know them. There is good in them; I’ve seen it. Are you telling me, that after everything that’s happened this past week, you’re still gonna try to arrest them?” Andi looked down a slightly guiltily, but Buffy held her resolve. “They trusted you with their secret identities. Are you going to use that against them?” Buffy didn’t even try to deny it. He stood up. “Well, they’re both at work now. If you’re going to betray them, you might as well get it over with. Go ahead. Cause a scene at The Spoon. Go to the gym, and break the hearts of all those kids who think the world of TJ.” He wasn’t sure if he had ever been this angry before, certainly not with his two best friends. He grabbed his tape recorder and stormed out of the apartment.

He tried to cool down while he walked back to work. He debated texting TJ and Amber to warn them, but he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t want them to not trust his friends, even after what had just happened. And he didn’t really believe that they would actually show up at their work to try to arrest them like that. Right?


	7. The Cyrus Special

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> platonic ambi is honestly underrated

Andi stood outside of The Spoon in her civilian clothes. Buffy had wanted her to show up in her suit and just arrest Amber right there in front of everyone, while she was doing the same with TJ at the gym. You know, divide and conquer, or whatever. But Andi thought about what Cyrus had said and everything that had happened the past week. Sure, she definitely didn’t trust the Kippens, but she could see Cyrus’s point: surely they weren’t all bad, and surely everyone had the potential to change. She wanted to see Amber in a normal, everyday situation, without the mask or the danger. She took a deep breath and stepped inside.

Amber greeted her immediately and led her to a booth in the back corner. She sat facing the door. “So, what brings you to The Spoon? Are you here alone?” Andi was surprised to notice that Amber’s smile didn’t seem like a fake, customer-service smile; she genuinely seemed happy to see Andi.

“Yep. Cyrus speaks so highly of this place, so I thought I’d come here for lunch and see if it lives up to the hype. He and Buffy are both at work right now.”

Amber took out her little notebook and pencil. “So, what can I get you?”

Andi looked at the frankly, way too long menu and looked up at Amber hopelessly “Um… What would you recommend?”

“How about the Cyrus special?”

“He has his own special?”

“Kind of. It’s just what he gets every time he comes here.”

Andi laughed a little at that. Cyrus was definitely the type of person to always order the same thing at a restaurant. “What is it?”

“It’s a surprise. But I know you’ll like it.” She took the menu out of Andi’s hand. “And don’t worry. I remember. No condiments.” She smiled at her and walked off to the kitchen

Andi sat back in her seat.  _ She remembered that? _ Andi barely remembered mentioning it offhandedly once when the four of them were eating takeout during the search for Cyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think this is my first time writing from andi's perspective? sorry it's so short


	8. I Believe You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my son finally makes an appearance

Cyrus didn’t say anything as he walked into his office. He saw people give him concerned looks, but he ignored them and walked directly to his desk. He started typing out the transcript from his interview. When he got to the part where he asked Buffy and Andi if they though TJ and Amber could change, he stopped typing, but he couldn’t stop listening. It was even worse the second time. He hated hearing people argue. He didn’t think there was anything worse than listening to himself arguing with his best friend.

When the recording stopped, he didn’t move at first. He noticed that he was shaking and he was breathing fast, and he was close to tears. Now that he thought about it, he realised that he hadn’t cried at all since he had been kidnapped. And suddenly, everything that had happened this past week was hitting him all at once. As calmly as he could, he took out his earbuds, set them on his desk, stood up, walked into the single-stall restroom, and locked the door. As soon as he was alone, he was hit with a fresh wave of emotions. He sat one the floor with his back to the wall and cried, harder than he had cried in a long time.

Just when he had stopped crying and was starting to get his breathing back in order, he heard a knock on the door.  _ Crap _ . He never knew what to say when he was in a bathroom and someone knocked on the door, and his current situation didn’t exactly make it easier. “Uhh… there’s someone in here.” He hoped that was good enough and that whoever it was didn’t hear the way his voice cracked.

“Cyrus. It’s Jonah. Are you ok?” Of course it was Jonah.

“I’m fine.” Jonah would believe that, right? Jonah was generally pretty oblivious.

“Can I come in?” So much for that. Apparently, Jonah wasn’t going to give up that easily, and maybe it would be good to have a friend right now, especially one who wasn’t directly involved in the situation.

Cyrus slowly stood up and unlocked the door and then opened it. Jonah seemed surprised when he opened the door. He came in, and Cyrus quickly closed and locked it again. Cyrus turned to face Jonah. He didn’t really trust himself to speak right now, so he just kind of collapsed onto him in a hug, which was thankfully returned.

Cyrus felt another wave of tears come over him and didn’t try to stop it as Jonah held him and rubbed his back. Thankfully, Jonah didn’t try to ask him what was wrong; Cyrus wouldn’t know where to even begin answering that question. He just held him until he was done crying and pulled away. Then, he pulled a small thing of tissues out of his pocket and handed it to him. Cyrus smiled in thanks and blew his nose.  _ God, why did crying always have to be so gross? _ He walked over to the sink and splashed water on his face.

Jonah followed him and stood slightly behind him and to the left. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

Cyrus looked at him through the mirror and sighed. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“How about the beginning?”

Cyrus laughed slightly at that. “It’s a long story. And I think I’ve been hogging the bathroom for too long as it is.” He turned around and looked at Jonah directly.

Jonah shrugged. “Are you hungry? We could go to the Spoon, and I could buy you lunch? And maybe you can talk about it there if you want?”

“Not the Spoon.” Amber was working, and he just didn’t want to deal with that right now.

Jonah looked confused but didn’t ask. “Okay, we could go somewhere that’s not the Spoon, and I could buy you lunch?”

Cyrus smirked at him. “Jonah Beck, are you asking me out on a date?” Cyrus two years ago would have loved for that to be true, but Cyrus now knew it wasn’t and wouldn’t want it to be.

“Jokes on you, I’m aromantic.” Jonah did finger guns at him, and Cyrus rolled his eyes and smiled. “Wait here. I’ll go get our stuff.” Jonah left and Cyrus turned back to the mirror to try to make himself look more presentable. About a minute later, there was a knock on the door again, and Cyrus opened it to see Jonah standing there, wearing his own coat and holding Cyrus’s which he held out to him and Cyrus gratefully took. “I also grabbed this. I figured that if whatever you were listening to is what made you upset, you wouldn’t want anybody else to have it.” He was holding up Cyrus’s tape recorder, with his earbuds wrapped around it. Cyrus took it and shoved it in his pocket. He smiled at Jonah and put his arm around him as the two walked out of the building.

As they walked, Jonah rambled on about some article he was writing about frisbee. It was exactly the kind of thing Cyrus needed right now: to just listen to his friend talk about something normal (well normal compared to superhero stuff anyway). They ended up at a cafe a few blocks away from the office. Cyrus found a table while Jonah went up to the counter to order for them. He came back with two drinks: a smoothie for himself and an iced coffee for Cyrus. Cyrus smiled at him as Jonah handed him his drink.

“Thank you.”

Jonah shrugged. “No problem, CyGuy.”

“I don’t just mean for the coffee. I mean for being there for me earlier.”

Jonah smiled at him. “I’ve lost count of how many times you’ve been there for me, Cy. It’s only fair that I return the favor. Besides, I like helping you. It makes me feel helpful.”

Cyrus couldn’t help but smile at that; it was just so Jonah.

“So, do you want to talk about what happened or? You don’t have to of course. But you can.”

Cyrus sighed. He took a second to think of how he could possibly explain everything without giving away his friends’ identities. Jonah already knew that he had been interviewing Andiman and The Slayer this morning; the whole office knew. He didn’t think Jonah would believe that he had gotten this upset over a disagreement with two superheroes he supposedly didn’t know very well. He decided to take Jonah’s initial advice: he started at the beginning.

“You know how I wasn’t at work for the past few days?” Jonah nodded. “I uhh… I was kidnapped.” He took a drink while he waited a second to let it sink in. He looked up and saw pure shock on Jonah’s face.

“Oh my god, are you ok? What the fuck? How do you just say that so casually?”

Cyrus put up his hands to try to quiet him down. “Ok, first of all, I’m fine. Second of all, I don’t want anyone to know.”

“Why not? Did you report it to the police?”

“No, and the person who did it was taken care of. Everything is fine.”

“What do you mean ‘taken care of?’”

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure. I was a little scared to ask.”

“What do you mean? Ask who?”

“The Slayer, Andiman, Spitfire, and Frostbyte.”

“Whoa.” Cyrus nodded. “So wait. That’s why those four were working together? To save you? Why? Like no offense, but why would two villains help save you?”

“That’s the thing. I’m not so sure they are villains. Or at least that they have to be forever. I think they could change and be good if someone just gave them a chance to, but no one agrees with me.”

Just then, a waiter brought their food to them and they were quiet for a second while they waited for them to leave. Cyrus started eating his sandwich.

“I believe you.”

Cyrus almost choked on his sandwich. “You do? Why? You don’t even know them.”

“But I know you. I trust your judgement. If you think they can change, then they can change. And I mean, no one who likes you could be all bad.” Jonah shrugged.

Cyrus smiled at him in awe. It really was that simple for Jonah. Too bad Buffy wouldn’t be so easy to convince.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i may have stolen the "jokes on you, i'm aromantic" from a friend


	9. Kids Love Superheroes

Buffy stood outside of the Parker Street Gym. Unlike Andi, she was in full costume and ready to kick ass. She looked through the glass door to make sure TJ was actually in there before she barged in ready to fight. What she saw made her pause for a second. TJ was kneeling on the ground in front of a crying kid. He had this soft look on his face, almost like the look she had seen him give Cyrus a couple times, but different, and even softer, which she hadn’t thought was possible. He was putting a bandaid on their leg and talking to them. She couldn’t hear what he was saying, but whatever it was seemed to comfort them. They laughed and jumped up, giving TJ a hug, which was enthusiastically returned, before running off to join the other kids.

_ Fuck _ . Maybe Cyrus was right. She couldn’t just barge in there and arrest him. At least not in front of the kids. She was about to walk away when she noticed that she had been caught.  _ Shit _ . The kids had seen her standing there. She couldn’t walk away now or it would be weird. She walked in with a forced smile on her face. She was immediately surrounded by small, loud children with grabby hands. _ Oh boy, this should be fun _ .

“Hey Slayer, what are you doing here?” She looked up at the voice and saw TJ standing there with an unreadable expression on his face.

“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d stop by and surprise the kids. Is that ok?” She knew it was a lie. He knew it was a lie. She could tell he knew she was hoping he would say no, that it wasn’t ok for her to come in and see the kids, just to give her an excuse to leave. She just hoped the kids believed her.

He smiled at her, the smug bastard. “Yeah of course it’s ok. We were actually about to have snack time. Could you come help me get them?” He gestured to a door at the back of the room. She knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew she knew what he was doing, but she couldn’t refuse. And, honestly, she’d do just about anything to get away from the loud, sticky children who were currently surrounding her. (How were they sticky when, according to TJ, they hadn’t even had their snacks yet? Buffy was almost scared to ask. She just kind of accepted that children were always sticky.)

As soon as they were alone, he turned to her. “What are you doing here?”

“I told you, I came to surprise the kids.”

“You hate kids.”

“Kids love superheroes.”

“You’re avoiding the question. You came here for me, didn’t you.”

“Why ask a question if you already know the answer?” She tried to cross her arms, but he shoved a box of juice boxes in her arms.

“Just remember, I’m not the only one here with a secret identity.”

She glared at him, but he didn’t see it because he was leaning over, picking up another box, presumably one filled with snacks. “Are you threatening me, Kippen?”

He stood back up and stared her down. “When I’m threatening you, you’ll know.” Then, he walked back into the main room, with a smile plastered on his face as though the conversation hadn’t happened, and she had no choice but to follow suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i think this is my favorite chapter


	10. The First Step

The next day, Cyrus’s morning was relatively uneventful, which was honestly a relief after everything that had happened the previous day. Then, at around 11:30 when he was starting to think about lunch, he looked up from his computer and saw TJ standing there. He’s not ashamed to say he may have jumped slightly. He put his hand on his chest. “Jesus, TJ, warn a guy next time you decided to pop up out of nowhere.”

TJ looked down. “Sorry.”

Cyrus shook his head. “It’s fine. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be at work?”

“I’m on my lunch break. I assume they let you have those here too?”

“Yeah… Why?”

“I was thinking maybe we could take our lunch breaks together?”

Cyrus raised an eyebrow, leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and smirked up at TJ. “TJ Kippen, are you trying to ask me out on a date?”

TJ looked down again and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. “If I was, would you say yes?”

Cyrus pretended to think for a second. He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess you’ll have to ask to find out.”

TJ rolled his eyes and smiled at him. “Cyrus, will you go on a date with me?”

Cyrus smiled fully this time. “I would love to, TJ.” And the smile TJ gave him in return was worth it. He stood up and grabbed his jacket, putting it on as he walked around his desk. They walked out of the office hand in hand, and Cyrus rolled his eyes when he saw Jonah giving him a not-so-subtle thumbs up.

They walked into the Spoon a few minutes later. They found a booth in the back and both sat on the same side, facing the door. They barely had to wait another minute before Amber was bringing them their food, without them even having to order. At that, Cyrus looked questioningly at TJ, who just shrugged and whispered, “I may have texted her and told her we were coming.” Cyrus just smiled fondly at that and looked back at Amber. Who was now sitting in the seat across from them.

At Cyrus’s questioning look, Amber said, “Don’t worry. I’m not trying to crash your date. TJ and I need to talk to you for a minute. It shouldn’t take too long, and then I’ll be out of your hair.” She stole one of Cyrus’s baby taters.

Cyrus was even more confused now. He looked between the two Kippens. “What do you need to talk about?”

TJ answered him. “We thought about what you said. And we talked about it. And we think you’re right. Or at least we hope you are. And we’re willing to give it a shot. The whole “being good” thing.” He put air quotes around “being good.”

Cyrus smiled at both of them. He hugged TJ, which was slightly awkward given their position, but he didn’t care. TJ hugged him back. They separated after a moment. “This is amazing! I’m so proud of you guys.”

Amber smiled at him fondly. “Don’t get too proud yet. We haven’t actually done anything yet.”

“I know. But making the decision is the first step. And I know it’s gonna be hard, but you guys are going to be great, and I’ll be with you all the way.”

“Great, well I should get back to work and let you two get back to your date.” Amber stood up and started to walk away, but Cyrus stopped her.

“Wait. I just had an idea. Would you two be ok with being interviewed for an article I’m writing?”

The two twins looked at each other and shrugged simultaneously. Amber answered. “Sure. What’s it about?”

“I’ll tell you later. Just come to my apartment when you get off work? What time would that be, by the way?”

Amber said “Seven” at the same time as TJ said “Five.”

“Perfect. I’ll make dinner.”

With that, Amber did walk away this time, ruffling TJ’s hair as she left.


	11. The More, the Merrier

Cyrus texted Amber and TJ before he left work that day.

Cyrus: oh and bring your costumes. I might want to take pictures

Cyrus: if that’s okay with you two of course

TJ: They’re not costumes. They’re super suits

Cyrus: uh huh. You keep telling yourself that

Amber: I’ll bring them both. I gotta go home and change after work anyway

Cyrus went grocery shopping on his way home from work. He had just set the bags on his kitchen table and was starting to put things away when he heard a knock on the door. He opened it to see TJ standing there, which was only slightly surprising.

“I assumed when you said you were cooking dinner, what you meant was that you were going to stand in your kitchen and watch me cook dinner?” Cyrus smiled. TJ knew him so well. Cyrus might be good at baking, but he was pretty much hopeless at cooking. They were two completely different skillsets, as he was very disappointed to learn when he first started living by himself.

“You assumed correctly. Come in.” He opened the door further, letting TJ in, and then closed it behind them as they walked into the kitchen.

True to his word, TJ cooked dinner for the three of them while Cyrus stood by and watched. He did try to help, but he mostly kept getting in the way, so he just watched.  _ You know, I could get used to this _ , he thought as he watched TJ cook.

When the food was almost done, they heard a knock on the door. At first, Cyrus assumed it was Amber, but then he looked at the clock. It was just passed seven; there was no way Amber would be here already unless she had gotten off work early, which never happened.

Cyrus opened the door and saw Andi and Buffy standing there. He was surprised and almost angry just seeing them.

Before he could say anything, Andi spoke up. “Ok, I know you’re mad at us, but we’re here to apologize. And we brought ice cream and cookie dough.” Buffy held up a plastic grocery bag to prove it.

He crossed his arms. “Ok. I’m listening.”

Buffy wasn’t exactly known for her apologies, but she tried. She took a deep breath. “We’re sorry. I think you may have had a point about TJ and Amber, and we’re willing to give them a chance if they want to take it.” She looked almost as if the words pained her to say them, but she got them out.

Cyrus took the bag from her and looked in it to see what kinds of ice cream they had brought. He pretended to be contemplating whether or not they were good enough for him to accept their apology. Eventually, he smiled and pulled them both into a group hug. “Thank you,” he whispered to both of them.

After they pulled apart, he saw them looking behind him in surprise. He turned and saw TJ walking up to them. He looked slightly uncomfortable. “Uh, the food’s done.”

There was an awkward silence before Andi’s eye widened and she said, “Oh my god, were you two on a date? We should go.”

“It’s not a date,” Cyrus assured them. “Amber’s coming too, and you guys should join us if you want.” He looked back at TJ. “Is there enough food?” He knew there would be enough food, but he wanted to give TJ an out in case he wasn’t comfortable with them being here.

“Yeah, there should be.” TJ smiled at him reassuringly.

“Are you sure? We wouldn’t want to intrude.” 

TJ stepped closer and put his arm around Cyrus. “Of course. The more the merrier, right?” He smiled at Andi.

“What’s everyone doing out in the hall?” Cyrus looked out into the hallway behind Buffy and Andi and saw Amber approaching them. He noticed she was holding a duffel bag.

Cyrus answered her. “We just invited Andi and Buffy to join us for dinner. Is that ok?”

“Yeah, of course.” Amber smiled and everyone walked into the apartment together.


	12. Rising from the Ashes

“Why do we need to change our names?”

“Because Frostbyte and Spitfire sound like villain names. Don’t you want people to take you seriously as superheroes?”

“Yeah, because ‘The Slayer’ sounds like a total hero name.” TJ actually used air quotes around Buffy’s name.

Dinner had started out kind of awkward, but then Andi had made a joke about how the food was far too good for Cyrus to have had a hand in making it, which broke the ice a little bit. They all laughed and teased Cyrus some more, which was fine with him; at least they seemed to be getting along. Then, they talked about how Amber and TJ had decided to try to become superheroes, and after a small interrogation from Buffy and Andi, the two heroes decided to help them. Andi had already volunteered to make them new costumes. Everything was going fine until Buffy insisted that the twins would need new names. TJ disagreed, although more on the principle of disagreeing with Buffy than for any real reasons. The two had quickly started an argument, leaving no room for anyone else to speak.

“I’ve more than proven that it’s the name of a hero. Besides, are you going to tell me that Buffy the Vampire slayer wasn’t a hero?”

“I knew it! I knew that’s where your name came from!”

“Oh shut up. And stop worrying about my name. We need to pick names for you two.”

There was finally just enough of a break in their argument for Andi to jump in. “Well, how do you make fire and ice seem nice?” Cyrus thought she had a point there. Every fire- or ice-related name he could think of just felt villain-y.

“Oh! I got one for Amber! Niceberg!” TJ received only blank looks in response. “Oh come on. You know… like iceberg… but nice?”

“No, we got it. It’s just a terrible name.” Buffy was not one for letting someone down easy.

TJ pouted. “Well, I don’t see you coming up with anything.”

Cyrus had an idea that he had been thinking about for a while now. “Oh I have one. What about Phoenix? Or something to do with Phoenixes maybe?”  
“What does that have to do with ice?”

“No, not for Amber, for you. You know, cause of the whole being reborn from flames thing? And you have fire powers? And this is like you guys being reborn as heroes instead of villains?”

TJ looked at him in awe. “I love it.”

“I thought you didn’t even want a new name?” Buffy pointed out, ruining their moment.

“I didn’t, but I really like Cyrus’s idea.”

They quickly switched to discussing what Amber’s new name should be. At one point, he heard Buffy suggest ‘Elsa’ as a name for Amber, and he knew she was joking, but from the look Amber gave her, that fact hadn’t quite been made quite clear enough.

Amber narrowed her eyes at Buffy. “You know what? I don’t need a new name. I like my name. And Frostbyte doesn’t sound as angry as Spitfire, anyway. Besides,” she gave Buffy a sickly sweet smile. “You were right.”

Buffy seemed surprised. “About what?”

“When you said that you proved that the Slayer is the name of a hero. Why can’t I do the same thing with my name? A new name, a new suit, those are nice, but they don’t make us heroes; we do. I mean, actions speak louder than word, right?” She shrugged and went back to her food, effectively ending the conversation.

After they finished eating, they headed out to the living room to do the interview. Cyrus went to his bedroom to grab his tape recorder while Amber went to the freezer to grab the ice cream that Buffy and Andi had brought over. They all sat there eating ice cream while Cyrus asked them questions. The interview went significantly better than the previous one. It helped that this time, they were all on the same side.

After the interview was over, Cyrus asked the four of them to change into their costumes, so he could take pictures of them. Buffy and Andi ran across the hall while TJ and Amber took the bag Amber had brought over into the bathroom to change. Cyrus went into his room, putting away his tape recorder and grabbing his camera. He started to clean up a little while he waited for them.

As soon as they were all back in the living room, Andi showed the twins her notebook where she had already started drawing out new versions of their costumes. She and TJ argued about it for a little bit, but she listened to him and took his and Amber’s input into account as she made some changes to her designs, and he listened to her as well, recognizing her experience and expertise in the matter. Cyrus couldn’t resist taking a picture of the three of them sitting on the couch together, all hunched over the notebook with concentrated looks on their faces. He also managed to get a picture of Buffy sitting on the floor, leaning again Andi’s legs and eating ice cream. When she noticed him with the camera, she stuck her tongue out at him, but he just snapped a picture of that too. Cyrus also took some posed pictures of the four of them, but he’s pretty sure he likes the more candid ones better.

The next day, Cyrus went back to work and started working on the article, as well as other things he needed to get done around the office. Jonah noticed that he seemed to be in a better mood, but Cyrus just shrugged, not saying anything.

Near the end of the day, he got a text from Andi saying that she’d already finished making the twins’ costumes. Cyrus was impressed, but not surprised. He had learned not to underestimate her a long time ago. He invited all four of them back over to his apartment that evening.

Andi and Buffy were the first to arrive. Andi refused to show Cyrus the costumes until after TJ and Amber came over to try them on. Cyrus waited (im)patiently for the twins to arrive, and when they finally did (with takeout from The Spoon), he ran to give TJ a hug before pushing him and his sister in Andi’s direction, so she could help them with their costumes.

Buffy and Cyrus started digging into the food while the other three went into Cyrus’s bedroom. When they came out, Cyrus was amazed. Their new costumes were way better than the old ones, with basically only the colors remaining the same. Andi explained that the material was the same as Buffy and Andi’s, able to withstand pretty much anything, especially a wide range of temperatures. They were also lighter and easier to fight in, while also containing an inexplicable amount of pockets to store things in. But what cyrus really noticed was that they were gorgeous, even better than Andi and Buffy’s (not that he’d tell them that). He briefly noticed Buffy grabbing his camera and taking a picture. He assumed it was of the twins, so he didn’t really think anything of it. (Later, he would notice while looking through his camera that she had actually taken a picture of Cyrus, at the exact moment he saw TJ in his new costume; it’s one of his favorite pictures of himself.)

Buffy and Andi went to put their costumes on. TJ sat on the couch and went to grab a baby tater, but Amber sat on the floor in front of him and gestured to her hair. He rolled his eyes, but started braiding her hair without complaint. She just started eating the baby taters that were sitting on the coffee table in front of her. It looked so natural and adorably domestic that they had to have done this many times before. How could Cyrus not take a picture of them?

When Buffy came back in the room, she made a joke about Amber looking like Elsa. Amber just rolled her eyes. “Elsa didn’t invent braids.”

“Yeah, I know. I did.” Buffy smirked, flipping her own hair dramatically, which didn’t exactly have the same effect when it was in braided pigtails as it normally did when it was down, but it made her point.

After they ate, they all went up to the rooftop to get some pictures before it got too dark. Cyrus took a lot of pictures of them posing differently, trying to show off the new costumes. He made some stupid jokes to try to get some almost-candid pictures of them all laughing together. The sun was starting to set, and Cyrus was about to suggest heading back inside when Andi shushed everyone and looked off into the distance with a concentrated look on her face.

Everyone looked confused, except for Buffy, who looked only mildly concerned. “I hear something.” Andi walked to the edge of the building and closed her eyes. After a few seconds, she turned back to the others. She and Buffy seemed to have a quick, silent conversation that no one else could hope to understand. Andi nodded with a determined look on her face.

Buffy looked at the two newest heroes and smirked. “You two ready for your first chance to be heroes?”

TJ and Amber nodded. TJ kissed Cyrus and then followed the others off of the building. Buffy ran down the side of the building. Amber skated down a sheet of ice. Andi and TJ flew alongside them, Andi slightly ahead of the other three as she led the way. Cyrus couldn’t help but smile at how much the four of them already looked like the perfect superhero team. He held up his camera and snapped a picture. He saw TJ turn back and wink at him right before he put the camera down. He laughed and headed back downstairs to his apartment. Of course, he’d never really stop worrying about them, but he trusted that they’d look after each other. Besides, he had an article to finish.


	13. The Article

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long. I just kind of lost the motivation to finish this, but here it is: the final chapter. I hope you like it

Can Villains Become Heroes?

By Cyrus Goodman

“Sometimes, there’s a nice person on the inside trying to get out.” This is something my Bubbe Rose told me once that has stuck with me all my life. I’ve always believed that everyone deserves a second chance and that people can change. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve had a bit of a reputation for “taking in strays,” as my friends would call it. This is not to say that I’m naive or that I trust everyone. I happen to think I’m a pretty good judge of character, in fact. I know that I can’t change people; I can only help them to change themselves. They have to make that decision on their own. And I know that there is a line between who is redeemable and who is not; although, where that line is is always going to be subjective. I can usually see the good in people, even if they cannot see it in themselves, and I always want to help them bring it out.

This is why, when I heard that Spitfire and Frostbyte had worked together with Andiman and The Slayer to save an innocent person’s life, I was filled with hope. I knew there had to be some spark of goodness in them. So I decided to reach out to them to see for myself.

But first, I interviewed the Slayer and Andiman, to see what they had to say on the matter. After some pleasant conversation over homemade cookies, we got into the issue at hand:

**So, what do you two think of Spitfire and Frostbyte?**

Slayer: What do you mean? We’ve been enemies for years. Nothing has changed.

**So, what do you have to say about reports of the four of you being seen working together this past week?**

Slayer: We had a common goal. We accomplished it. End of story.

**You can’t give me any more details than that? What was the goal? Why did you have to work together?**

Andiman: We have a mutual friend who needed our help.

**And how is it that two superheroes and two supervillains have a mutual friend?**

Andiman: You’d have to ask the friend. But to protect them, we’re not going to tell you who they are.

**Fair enough. So, what was it like working together with two supervillains?**

Andiman: Surprisingly, not that bad. They were focused on our goal, and once Spitfire and the Slayer got their egos in check, we were able to work together pretty well.

**And you weren’t worried about them betraying you or anything?**

Slayer: Of course we were. But we could tell how much they cared about our friend, and it’s amazing what one can accomplish with the right motivation.

Andiman: And what better motivation is there than love?

**Given that they helped you and your friend this past week, do you think it’s possible for Spitfire and Frostbyte to change? To become good?**

Slayer: You can’t love away evil. After everything they’ve done, you know we can’t trust them. One good deed doesn’t erase years of bad deeds. They’re criminals.

At this point, I must admit, the three of us got into an argument that got a bit personal, and, deciding I had heard enough, I walked away.

However, things did get better. The next day, I scheduled an interview with Spitfire and Frostbyte. How did I manage to get an interview with the two “villains?” It was pretty simple, really: I told them I’d make them dinner. I can practically hear my mother’s voice in my head telling me what a bad idea it is to invite known supervillains into my home, but I wasn’t scared.

Spitfire arrived early, before I had even started cooking. For some reason, it is very important to him that I tell you all that he did most (ok, all) of the cooking that evening. It’s oddly not that surprising that someone with fire powers would turn out to be such a good cook. We were waiting for his sister to show up when, to our surprise, The Slayer and Andiman appeared bearing ice cream and apologies. I’m still not entirely sure what exactly made them change their minds, but they decided that they were willing to give the twins a chance. Soon, Frostbyte showed up, and the five of us ate dinner together. It was, admittedly, awkward at first, but the tension in the room didn’t last too long. The twins explained that they had decided that they wanted to try to be heroes, but they didn’t know how to go about it. Andiman and the Slayer agreed to help, deciding that the first step would be rebranding themselves with friendlier outfits and names. Well, one of them got a new name; Frostbyte decided she liked hers just fine the way it is. So, today, I introduce you to the new and improved, Frostbyte and Phoenix.

After dinner, I got down to business and asked the four of them a couple questions, starting, of course, with our newest superheroes:

**So, what made you decide to give up your life of crime and join the light side?**

Phoenix: I had a conversation with a friend the other day. They asked me why I did the things I did, and I honestly didn’t have a good answer. They said they couldn’t understand how someone could have these powers and not want to use them for good. They told me that, after some of the things they had seen me do, they refused to believe that I could be entirely evil. For the first time ever, someone actually believed that I could be good. And I guess that’s all it really took for me to believe it too. Not to mention, the look on their face when they found out who I was is not a look I ever want to see on their face again.

Frostbyte: The reason we started out in this life of crime was to protect each other. For our entire lives, it was the two of us against the world. It took seeing someone we care about in danger for us to realize that we _ have _ other people we care about and who care about us. It doesn’t have to be the two of us against the world anymore; it can be the two of us helping the world, alongside our new friends. I know we can never undo the harm we’ve done, but we can try to minimise the harm done in the future. The feeling of working with other heroes and the relief of saving someone’s life was so much better than anything I’ve felt before. I want to keep doing good in this world.

**Slayer, Andiman, what made you change your mind about these two?**

Andiman: You were right. Everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, after the last week of working together, I don’t think we could go back to fighting them. It just wouldn’t feel right.

Slayer: I saw that good in them that you were talking about. I think I get it now. Our job is to help people, and that includes them, as long as they’re willing to accept it.

So, can villains become heroes? Honestly, I can’t say for sure. I know that it’s going to take a lot for them to gain the trust of the people of this city. I see the good in them. Do you?

* * *

Cyrus attached a few of the photos that he had taken and submitted the article to his editor, just in time that it should be able to be published the next day. He shut his laptop and put it on the table next to his bed.

The next morning he woke up to a text from TJ saying that they had all made it home safe. He smiled to himself and sent a good morning text in reply before getting up to get ready for work.

Cyrus was sitting at his desk, more than a little bored when he got a phone call. It was TJ. He answered it quickly. “TJ?”

“Hey, Cy. Are you busy?”

Cyrus glanced at his computer screen where a half-finished game of Solitaire was displayed. “Not really. Why?”

“Do you have time to come down to the gym?”

Despite TJ’s upbeat tone, Cyrus couldn’t help but be worried. “Why? Is everything ok?”

“Yeah. It’s just. The kids wanna meet you?”

Cyrus felt relieved, but that feeling was quickly replaced with confusion. “They know I exist?”

“Yeah, I talk about you.” Cyrus smiled. “So, can you come? They kind of didn’t believe me when I said I have a boyfriend.”

Cyrus’s smile got even wider before turning into a smirk. “Boyfriend, huh?”

“Uh yeah? Is that ok? I know we haven’t actually used that word yet, but I-” Cyrus could practically feel TJ’s stress, so he cut him off before he could keep rambling.

“No, I like it.” TJ sighed in relief. “Don’t worry. I’ll come over, so you can impress a bunch of seven-year-olds.” TJ snorted. “I’ll be there in a few minutes… boyfriend.”

After he hung up, he spun around in his chair, holding his phone to his chest and grinning. He realised he probably looked ridiculous, but he didn’t care.

When Cyrus walked into the gym, TJ immediately came up to him and put his arm around him. Cyrus could feel the eyes of twenty small children (as well as the two other employees) on him. The kids all ran up to the pair, surrounding them and bombarding Cyrus with questions. It was a bit overwhelming. TJ managed to get them to calm down enough that he could introduce Cyrus to them. Cyrus spent the next hour playing with TJ and the kids, who continued to ask him questions the whole time. Cyrus answered them all happily. Eventually, TJ announced that he was taking his break and dragged Cyrus over to a bench in the back of the gym, where they could still see pretty much everything but had some semblance of privacy.

TJ turned to Cyrus. “Too much?”

Cyrus shook his head. “Not quite.”

TJ smiled. “Good. Because if you didn’t like them, we would have a problem.” Cyrus snorted. He didn’t doubt that at all. “I know they can be… a lot, but I love them.”

Cyrus nodded. “I know.” He leaned his head on TJ’s shoulder. “I think it’s cute.”

TJ blushed slightly and looked down. After a few seconds, he changed the subject. “So I read your article.”

Cyrus lifted his head back up and looked at TJ. “Yeah?” TJ nodded. “What’d you think?”

“It was great. Like everything you write. The pictures you chose though.” He shook his head, but Cyrus could see he was smiling.

He raised an eyebrow. “And what exactly was wrong with them?”

“Did you really have to use the one of me doing Amber’s hair? People don’t need to know that like my sister. It’s not exactly badass.”

Cyrus snorted. “People already know you’re a badass, TJ. They need to see that you’re human.”

“Do they though?”

Cyrus shook his head, smiling fondly at his boyfriend. “Yes, TJ. That’s the whole point of the article, remember? To get people to trust you.”

TJ looked down. “Do you think it’ll work?” He spoke softly.

Cyrus smiled sadly at him and held his hand. “I guess we’ll see.” He laid his head back on TJ’s shoulder, and TJ laid his head on Cyrus’s. They sat like that in silence for a few minutes, until a couple of the kids came over and dragged them back to the play area.


End file.
